Tom

I'm about this far (motions with thumb and finger) | | away from getting everything I need for reloading. The problem is I haven't found any place with primers in stock. I sent an email to Ultramax stating my disappointment in their product. Their QC guy called me today and is going to have my remaining ammo shipped back and they are going to replace it. All 200 rounds were from the same lot #. I went through the two boxes I have left and found about 5 rounds that were bulged and wouldn't fit into the chamber. I also picked out about 5 that were dented and 3 that had primers deeper than the others.

Unfortunately there is no Academy Sports around here. The best I can do locally is $20 a box for bulk reloads, $25 a box for Russian steel case, and $30 a box for new. When I say locally I mean a 100 mile radius. The junk I used was from Midway. DIY reloading is looking better and better all the time!

They are used brass, you get a hodgepodge of brands of brass in the box. Some nickel plated some not. All had CCI primers. They were not bulk, the packaging was normal 50 round boxes. I bought it from Midway. website on Ultramax "QC" http://www.ultramaxammunition.com/quality.php

Finally got out to the range yesterday. New sear installed from http://www.apextactical.com/ and a little polishing of some critical parts. Trigger is now very smooth. I shot 100 rounds of factory reloads by Ultramax Ammunition. Had four duds, two get stuck when loading into the chamber and one fail to eject. Upon further inspection the cases were bulged near the bottom; poor sizing QC. The one that failed to eject I had to field strip the pistol and push, almost pound, it out with a rod. My targets are looking better. Shooting a semi-auto pistol accurately is a whole new skill set I need to develop. This was my best at about 10 yards.

I found this website on guns in movies today http://www.imfdb.org/index.php?title=Main_Page It's fun to look through.

An exercise to prove that it can be done?

I'm still researching buying equipment for reloading .40 S&W. No primers = no use buying reloading equipment.

It seems like every common online store is out of primers. Anyone got a source?

Are there any "got to have" books on reloading? I know there are manuals put out by the powder and bullet manufacturers but what about general knowledge books?

I know what you mean Bill, the anti-gunners know that if I was able to carry 12 I'd commit massive crime. 11 keeps me sane

Pic

Finally got out to the range with my new M&P .40 full size. Ran 100 round through it; 50 Russian made, 50 Independence brand. All fired flawlessly. Mechanically the pistol functioned great. The trigger has an easy pre-travel, then slight resistance to crunch (more on that later) with a fair amount of travel for reset. You can really feel a difference between the different backstraps. Just holding the pistol the small grip felt best, firing the pistol I liked the large best. The three dot sights align quickly and the pistol seems to rest itself on target quickly. The only issue I had is the white dot came out of the front sight. My guess is it's just paint and should be an easy fix. Long story: I was shooting groups about 4" low at 10 yrds so I thought it might be something I'm doing because I'm somewhat new to semi-auto pistols. I handed it to a friend that is shooting a Glock .40 (22) and he also shot about 3-4" low. Both of us were shooting dead-on with his Glock. I continued firing trying different things to see if I could figure out what was wrong with my grip/trigger pull or if it really was the gun. I ran out of ammo and concluded something was amiss with the pistol. I start talking to a guy in the next lane and explaining the 4" low issue and he asks to take a look a look at it. He handles with it a bit and asks if he can shoot it. He shoots dead-on and tells me that I'm dipping it down when I squeeze the trigger. He says "The factory trigger is crunchy at the end and that can cause you to shoot low". He then says "I'm an armorer on competition pistols and just started selling drop-in sears for M&P's do you want to try one?" My answer "Are you Scott?"...Yep! I had sent him an email earlier that week about his sears. He was out the ones he had for sale. To make a long story finally end, he had a sear with him and he swapped it into my pistol. It changes everything about the trigger pull in a good way but I've only dry-fired 'cause I was out of ammo. Seems to be more distinct stages like a rifle trigger with a lot of pre-travel. Gotta go back next week to try out the new sear. To Be Continued.....

I'm just curious why is it important to you that your son is trained specifically on the AR-15?

.40 S&W mostly, I also shoot a .22-250. I'm looking at it for economy. If I buy .40 S&W rounds locally I can get 50 reloads for $20, Russian "new" for $25 and "cheap" new USA stuff for $30. .22-250 is around $28 a box. Soon Calif. will not allow mail order due to a new law requiring a signature for handgun ammo. I can foresee prices going higher.

Yikes! It's an unseasonably warm 70* here!

I've been researching my options on reloading. It's very obvious that the Dillon progressive is a great setup and is vary fast and efficient for doing a lot of reloading. but If someone isn't doing a ton of reloading (yet) and on a budget is there anything wrong with a single stage setup? Lee and RCBS units are very tempting. It seems like their presses are inexpensive enough that if you wanted to step up to a progressive you wouldn't really be out all that much $$$. The other tools, such as scales, dies, etc would all transfer over. Researching on the internet you get widely varying opinions from "used a Lee for over 10,000 rounds and it still goes strong" to "bought a single stage RCBS and it was a mistake, sold it and will only use a Dillon"

That's a good deal. An SKS seems to go for about $350 in refurbished condition. I bought mine 15 years ago when they were "junk" and sold for $99. Ammo was $4 per 20. not any more!

That Saiga is based on the AK design. How much do they go for? The 7.62x39 is a great and cheap round to shoot.

here is a pretty good forum for everything sks http://www.sksboards.com/smf/index.php

I like the Russian SKS best, mine was made in 1952. From what I've seen and read the Yugo SKS is also very good. Ammo is around $7-9 for a box of 20. AFAIK the only country still producing an SKS-like rifle is a private company in Russia.

I've reloaded some shotgun shells in the past but that was a long time ago. It was using a friend's tools so I don't know much about cost, etc. With my new .40 and looking at ammo prices and the amount you can easily shoot at one range session I'm wondering about reloading. Is it cost-effective if you only reload one caliber and you shoot 500 rounds a year? What is required to get into it at an entry level? Do pistol and rifle cartridges require different presses? i.e. can a basic setup do .22-250 and .40 as long as you have the correct dies and associated parts?

scratching one would give you an unscientific idea of how thick the jacket/wash is.

I checked one of those out at the gun shop the other day, they are unbelievably light! neat little pistol.

Welcome Mac and thank you for your service! I was a Jet/Turbine Engine mech in the USAF but that was at the end of your long career.

soldering iron / desoldering tools...maybe?